Legal provisions, courts, and the status of religious communities: a socio-legal analysis of inter-religious relations in Romania

Abstract

In this analysis, we discuss the recent dynamics of inter-religious relations in Romania with a focus on the influence of legislative provisions and court decisions. While previous analyses have focused on the domination of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the national religious field, and particularly on its relations with minority denominations, recent dynamics point to partial reconfigurations in power relations. We analyse in depth several conflicts between representatives of religious majority and minority denominations (enjoying a higher legal status), on the one hand, and representatives of heterodox religious groups that have recently broken away or represent different religious traditions (with a lower legal status), on the other. We argue that new religious freedom dynamics arise at the intersection of conflicting interests of such communities with higher and, respectively, lower legal recognition. We analyse these dynamics in connection to national legislative provisions, domestic court decisions and the European Court of Human Rights. ARTICLE HISTORY

Gugatan Tidak Dapat Diterima (Niet Ontvankelijke Verklaard) dalam Gugatan Cerai Gugat di Pengadilan Agama Badung

“…Beberapa penelitian mengenai gugatan cerai telah banyak dilakukan oleh peneliti sebelumnya Mantili & Lubis (2017); Wirawan, Budiartha, & Ujianti (2020) ;Duesenberg, (1959); Kusmayanti & Puteri (2020); Melayu (2013); Mirsultan (2020); Popa & Andreescu, (2017). Dalam mengajukan tuntutan hak ke pengadilan, penggugat harus datang dan membuat gugatan ke pengadilan.…”

Religion and Education in Romania: Social Mobilization and the “Shadow” of the European Court of Human Rights

“…First, the country has been the site of a dynamic resurgence of religious influence on state policy after the fall of communism in 1989. In its attempts to assert itself as the “national church” (Romocea 2011), the majority Romanian Orthodox Church (hereafter simply “Orthodox Church”) catalyzed limitations on the religious freedom of minority communities through the intervention of state authorities (some of which also triggered complaints at the Court; see Popa and Andreescu 2017 for an updated overview). The Orthodox Church's role is also prominent in the counter-secularist mobilizations we analyze here.…”

“…The empirical material on which this analysis draws stems mainly from the first author's field research carried out between April 2015 and June 2017. The research was carried out within the framework of the ERC-funded program “Directions in Religious Pluralism in Europe: Examining Grassroots Mobilisations in the Shadow of European Court of Human Rights Religious Freedom Jurisprudence” (Grassrootsmobilise) and involved a multi-method approach, which included: (1) textual analysis of materials from online mass media sources, as well as from administrative texts and court case files; (2) interviews with individuals selected for the project's different religion-related research themes (e.g., the legal status—religious freedom nexus, analyzed in Popa and Andreescu 2017); (3) observation of discursive practices in public events. The main aim of the larger field research was to take note of social actors’ awareness of the Court and their use of references to the Court and its case law in religion-related mobilizations.…”

“…asociații religioase ), and ‘religious groups’ (Rom. grupuri religioase ) (see Andreescu 2008, Popa and Andreescu 2017 for analyses of these legal categories’ implications for religious freedom).…”